Category - Soccer

The earliest evidence of soccer dates back to the fourth century BC in ancient Greece and was referred to as Phaininda. The game was played by Antiphanes and was similar to the later-known Greek game called Episkyros, a very early form of soccer was played that allowed players to dribble a leather ball and permitted ball carrying. Although the Greeks are said to have played games very similar to that of soccer, ancient China is credited with the earlier scientific evidence as a pioneer in soccer for its ball game called Cuju, which was a competitive sport that involved kicking a ball into a net. According to the Chinese military manual compiled during the third and second century BC, cuju is documented as a game that required players to kick a ball into a net affixed to bamboo poles, using just their feet, chest, back, and shoulders.

Both of the Greeks and ancient Romans played a game that resembled modern soccer, although in this early version, teams could consist of up to twenty seven players. It is very impossible to say where and when soccer started, but it to assume that some type of ball game – from which the organized sport we know today developed – has been played somewhere on the planet for over 3000 years. In medieval times, towns and villages played against rival towns and villages – and kicking, punching, biting and gouging were allowed. The object of the game was to move the ball to an agreed spot which had been marked out before play commenced.

The modern-day outgrowth of soccer is known to have started in England, and the first ball reportedly was the head of a dead Danish brigand. Although King Edward III prohibited soccer in 1365 because of its excessive violence and for military reasons playing took time away from archery practice the game had become too popular to be curtailed. King Edward III passed laws in 1331 to try and suppress football. In Scotland, King James 1, in 1424, proclaimed in Parliament, “That na man play at the Fute-ball” (No man shall play football/soccer). Hundreds of people took part and games could last all day. So violent did these matches become that many attempts were made by the authorities to ban soccer. Good Queen Bess, Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, had a law passed which provided for soccer players to be ” jailed for a week, and obliged to do penance in church.” But no law could stop the game in Britain. It was too popular.”

“In 1815, the famous English School, Eton College, established a set of rules which other schools, colleges and Universities began to use. Later, these were standardized and a version, known as the Cambridge Rules, was adopted by most of England’s Universities and Colleges in 1848. But now, football was divided into two separate camps. Some colleges and schools preferred to follow rules drawn up by Rugby School – rules which permitted tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball, which were all forbidden by the Cambridge rules. On 26 October 1863, eleven London clubs and schools sent their representatives to a meeting in the Freemason’s Tavern to establish a single set of fundamental rules to govern the matches played among them.The supporters of the Rugby School rules walked out, and On 8 December 1863, Association Football and Rugby Football finally split.

In 1869 The Football Association included in their rules a provision which forbade any handling of the ball – so establishing the foundation on which the modern game stands.” Today a World Cup Soccer Championship was developed by the president of FIFA at the time, Jules Rimet. Planning for the first event began in 1926 with the idea to have the World Cup “in between” the Olympics. This original concept doesn’t work as well now with the staggered hosting of the Winter and Summer Olympics but nonetheless it was a good idea.

With the help of other officials, Rimet organized the first event for 1930. The first world cup was the only event to not include the modern qualifying rounds. The European teams involved were France, Belgium, Yugoslavia, and Romania. Many other European teams were dissatisfied with the location and refused to travel the distance to Uruguay.There were a total of 13 teams in the first world cup. The remaining countries besides the host Uruguay were Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, and the United States.The first world cup soccer match kicked off on July 13th, 1930 with France beating Mexico 4 to 1, thus beginning a long, rich history of world cup action. The original FIFA World Cup Trophy was named the Jules Rimet Cup after its president and main World Cup organizer.